Ali Meghji is an Associate Professor in Social Inequalities. His draws on postcolonial sociology to understand the global dynamics of racialization, racism, and anti colonialism. In doing so, his work overcomes the methodological nationalism which characterises much contemporary race scholarship, and develops a way forward for thinking about transnational raciality.

Ali has held visiting fellowship at Brown's CSREA, Harvard’s Weatherhead Centre, Harvard's Hutchins Centre, U Chicago's Black Metropolis Research Consortium, as well as a research fellowship at Sidney Sussex College. He is the director for undergraduate education, the convenor of the MPhil in marginality and exclusion, the course organiser for SOC12 Empire, colonialism, imperialism, and the former chair of 'Decolonising sociology'. He co-directed the Catalysts for Decolonisation research lab (funded by CRASSH) between 2024-6.

He is the co-editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Sociology, and sits on the editorial board of Sociological Theory, and Ethnic and Racial Studies. Previously he edited Sociology Compass, and was on the editorial boards of Sociology and Cultural Sociology; he is the co-founder and co-convenor of the Post/decolonial transformations subgroup of the British Sociological Association. He is chair of the ASA's theory section, and is on the publication committee of SSSP and ASA.

His recent research involves archival work on the Du Boisian sociological tradition. Funded by the British Academy, Isaac Newton Trust, and Cambridge School of Humanities and Social Sciences, his research analyzes the unpublished writings of classical Black sociologists who he contends can be read as Du Boisians. This project will be published as a monograph with Princeton University Press. Parallel to this, he is working on a project investigating the de-Americanization of the Pan-African movement, funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Given his research interests, Ali is available to supervise graduate students in the sociology of empire and imperialism; de/postcolonial sociology; and global historical sociology.

Books

  • Meghji, A. (In production) Along the colorline: towards a Du Boisian sociology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Meghji, A. (2023) A secret synergy: race, decoloniality, and world crises. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 
  • Meghji, A. (2022) The racialized social system: critical race theory as social theory. Cambridge: Polity. 
  • Meghji, A. (2020) Decolonizing Sociology. Cambridge: Polity. (translated into Arabic) 
  • Meghji, A. (2019) Black middle-class Britannia: identities, repertoires, cultural consumption. Manchester: Manchester University Press (in UK); Oxford: Oxford University Press (in US). 
  • Meghji, A., Tinsley, M., Papadakis, S. (Eds) (Contracted 2023/4) Post and decolonial transformations of British sociology. Routledge, British Sociological Series in Sociological Futures. 

Journal Articles

  • Meghji, A. (2026). Revisitation and resurgence of the race-caste debate: returning to the classical texts. Journal of Classical Sociology.
  • Meghji, A. (2026). Rethinking racism again? Assessing conceptual deadlocks and innovations in race theory. Critical Sociology.
  • Meghji, A. (2025) Situating Black Reconstruction in the Du Boisian Tradition. Sociological Forum. Online First. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.70028
  • Meghji, A. (2025) Early Remnants of Global Historical Sociology: Methodological Innovations Among Classical Black Sociologists. Sociology Lens. Epub ahead of print 2025. DOI: 10.1111/johs.70021.
  • Meghji, A. (2024). ‘Peace is dangerous’: towards a Du Boisian theory of colonial post-fascism. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity.
  • Meghji, A, Gocek, F.M, Burawoy, M, Itzigsohn, J, Morris, A. (2024). Why now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian revolution. Sociology Compass (Editorial)
  • Meghji, A. (2024). Du Boisian sociology after Du Bois: Frazier, St Clair Drake, and the global and comparative study of race and empire. Sociological Forum.
  • Meghji, A. (2024). From public sociology to sociological publics: the importance of reverse tutelage to social theory. Sociological Theory.
  • Meghji, A. (2024). Theoretical synergy, global social theory, and the global colourline. Ethnic and Racial Studies.
  • Meghji, A. (2024). Sociologists as change agents? Thoughts on Lamont’s Seeing Others. Ethnic and Racial Studies.
  • Meghji, A. (2024). Who’s afraid of sociology? American Journal of Sociology.
  • Meghji, A. (2024). From public sociology to sociological publics: the importance of reverse tutelage to social theory. Sociological Theory. 
  • Meghji, A. (2023). On violence, race, and social theory: thinking with Wacquant and Du Bois. Contention, 11(2): 95-108. 
  • Meghji, A. (2023). Making Academic Outsiders. Contemporary Sociology, 52(5): 395-397.  
  • Meghji, A. (2023). To dwell in epistemic disobedience: a reply to Go. British Journal of Sociology (Online First). 
  • Meghji, A. (2022). Towards a theoretical synergy: Critical race theory and decolonial thought in Trumpamerica and Brexit Britain. Current Sociology, 70(5): 647–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120969764 
  • Meghji, A., & Niang, S. M. (2022). Between Post-Racial Ideology and Provincial Universalisms: Critical Race Theory, Decolonial Thought and COVID-19 in Britain. Sociology, 56(1): 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385211011575 
  • Meghji A (2021) Just what is critical race theory, and what is it doing in British sociology? From “BritCrit” to the racialized social system approach. The British Journal of Sociology, 72(2): 347–359.  
  • Meghji, A. (2021). What can the sociology of race learn from the histories of anti-colonialism? Ethnicities, 21(4): 769-782. 
  • Meghji, A. (2020) ‘Contesting racism: how do the black middle-class use cultural consumption for anti-racism?’, Identities: Global studies in culture and power, 27(5): 595-613. 
  • Meghji, A. (2019) ‘Encoding and Decoding Black and White Cultural Capitals: Black Middle-Class Experiences’, Cultural Sociology, 13(1): 3–19.  
  • Meghji, A. (2019) ‘Activating Controlling Images in the Racialized Interaction Order: Black Middle-Class Interactions and the Creativity of Racist Action’, Symbolic Interaction, 42(2): 229–249.  
  • Meghji, A. (2019). White power, racialised regimes of truth, and (in)validity. Sentio, 1(1): 36-41. 
  • Meghji, A. and Saini, R. (2018) ‘Rationalising Racial Inequality: Ideology, Hegemony and Post-Racialism among the Black and South Asian Middle-Classes’, Sociology, 52(4): 671–687.  
  • Meghji, A. (2017). Positionings of the black middle-classes: understanding identity construction beyond strategic assimilation. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(6): 1007–1025.  
  • Meghji, A. (2017). A relational study of the Black middle classes and globalised White hegemony: Identities, interactions, and ideologies in the United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa. Sociology Compass, 11(9): 1-13.  

Book Chapters

  • Meghji, A. (2026) 'Du Boisian sociology and postcolonial sociology' in Handbook on Anticolonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Sociologies (Patil et al eds), Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Meghji, A., Itzigsohn, J., Go, J., Connell, R., Bhambra, G., and Agozino., O. (Forthcoming) ‘Decolonizing Sociology: In Pursuit of Truth, Healing, Reparations and Restructuring’ in Oxford Handbook in Sociology and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
  • Meghji, A. and Tan, S. (Forthcoming) ‘Du Bois, race, and political sociology’ in Elgar Encyclopaedia of Political Sociology, Grasso et al (Eds.), Cheltenham: Elgar Press. 
  • Meghji, A. and Chan, T. (2023) ‘Critical Race Theory, Materialism, and Class’ in On Class, Race, and Educational Reform, Darder et al. (Eds)., pp 186-194, London: Bloomsbury. 
  • Meghji, A., Wain, L., Tan, S., (2022) ‘Demystifying the “Decolonising” and “Diversity” Slippage: Reflections from Sociology’ in Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonisation: Practical Tools for Improving Teaching, Research, And Scholarship, Day et al. (Eds)., pp. 31-47, Bristol: Bristol University Press. 
  • Meghji, A. (2021) ‘Race relations’, Routledge Encyclopaedia of Race and Racism. London: Routledge.  
  • Meghji, A. (2019) ‘Post-racialism’, SAGE Encyclopaedia of Research Methods. London: SAGE.  

Review Essays

  • Meghji, A. (Forthcoming). [The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought. G Steinmetz. 2023] European Journal of Social Theory. 
  • Meghji, A. (2022) ‘Stirring the sugar in the English cup of tea: more notes on the continuing relevance of Stuart Hall’, Cultural Studies, Online First. 
  • Meghji, A. (2020). Britain’s Postcolonial Crisis: The Denial of Racism in Little England. Council for European studies.  
  • Meghji, A. (2019). [Chocolate cities: the Black map of American life. Hunter, M. and Robinson, Z. 2018]. Sociology of race and ethnicity, 5(2): 305-6. 
  • Meghji, A. (2017). Politics then and now: the enduring legacy of Stuart Hall. Cultural Studies, 31(6): 1-3. 
  • Meghji, A. (2016). [The Colour of Class: The Educational Strategies of the Black middle classes. Rollock et al., 2015] Ethnic and Racial Studies, 39(3): 526-528.  
  • Meghji, A. (2014). The Black middle-class and laissez-faire racism in Britain’s classrooms. Sociology Teacher Journal, 4(1): 9–13.